***
Chapter 16:
Risks
***
A hush lay over the tavern as the slender female strode into the monster pit, her hands resting on the hilts of her strange surface weapons. Around the tall, magically enchanted steel mesh walls of the pit a score of drow, males and females of many ranks, stood in eager anticipation. The Pit Master, Szordrin, wetted his thin lips, his red eyes glinting in the dim tavern light, and worked hard to keep a grin off of his angular, ebony-hued face. This would be an excellent fight.
Then again, every one the newly-arrived Veldrin's battles had been excellent. She was truly an impressive female; both ruthless and skilled, not to mention the new pet warrior of house Despana's priestess Phaere. Within a day of arriving in Ust Natha Veldrin had managed to ally herself with the most powerful house in the city, another feather in the female's hat. Those who knew Veldrin by her true name, Brynn Trueblade, were not so impressed by her displays of cunning.
It didn't seem possible, but when the shape an ancient beholder materialized in the pit the crowd around the outside of the walls seemed to grow even more silent than before.
'Veldrin' smiled tightly and drew her katanas. Her quicksilver cloak danced about her shoulders as she swiftly crossed the distance between herself and the beholder. She was so graceful that she seemed almost to be gliding across the floor instead of walking. The beholder saw her coming -how could it not with all those eyes!- and turned to face her, bringing to bear its impressive array of magical attacks, not mention its equally impressive mouthful of long, razor sharp teeth. The monster's central eye focused on its attacker and blasted a ray at her to remove what ever spell protections she might have had. Unfortunately for the beholder Brynn hadn't had any spells cast on her before the battle started, but she did have a Cloak of Mirroring -obtained by dispatching a number of irritatingly violent Shahuagin- and all that happened was the anti-magic ray bounced off the protective cloak right back at the beholder. Of course, since it was protected already by a anti-magic field around the bulk of its globular body, the ray did nothing to the beholder either other than surprise it a bit. That was enough to give Brynn the advantage.
She ducked to the right of the creature, made a feint at its central eye with her right hand blade, and then crossed the left hand blade over her torso to cut cleanly through one of the beholder's eyestalks. The beholder roared, angry at the stupid little drow that had dared to attack it, and snapped at Brynn's head with its toothy maw. Brynn dropped to the ground, twisting as she went down so that she landed on her stomach, and then came to her feet again directly beneath the beholder's hovering body. Up came another katana, and a second eyestalk plopped to the ground with a sickening splat. The beholder roared again and tried to maneuver itself so that it could take aim at Brynn with one of its remaining eyestalks, but Brynn stayed directly beneath it, and the two eyes that came within reach of her blades joined the other two on the floor.
Not wanting to impale itself on Brynn's katana's in an attempt to squash her by simply dropping its entire mass onto her head, the beholder made a smart choice and rose up higher in the air until it came in contact with the barrier that closed off the top of the pit. Now it aimed its ray-shooting eyes at its latest and most irritating challenger. A beam shot out from one of its topmost eyes, but it too bounced of Brynn's Cloak of Mirroring, and right back at the furious beholder. The beholder gave up on its apparently useless gaze attacks and went for something a little more blunt. It dived down from its place near the ceiling and moved to plow right into Brynn.
Brynn scooted to one side at the last second and the beholder ran 'face' first into the pillar that ran to the ceiling from the center of the pit. Laughing, Brynn then slid in again and sliced off another two of the beholder's eyestalks. Now the creature was down to four of its original ten eyestalks, and it was also bleeding badly from the six stumps where the other eyes had been. And Brynn had yet to even be hit.
Feeling a little cocky, Brynn made a show of taking off the Cloak of Mirroring and tossing it to the ground. "This is not a fair test of my abilities," she said in explanation.
Outside of the pit, Jaheira muttered, "Fool," to herself and narrowed her eyes.
The beholder also saw Brynn's mistake and sought to use that mistake to its own advantage. Rumbling gleefully in anticipation of its victory, the beholder turned about and faced Brynn again... only to find that she wasn't where she had been a moment ago. Brynn had slipped off to one side of the pillar, using the bulk of the stone to hide herself from the beholder's sight. Cautiously the beholder poked one of its eyestalks around the pillar to see what was on the other side, and for its efforts lost another eye. Dazed, hurt and angry the beholder attacked, coming fully around the pillar... only to find that Brynn had snuck off again, coming around to where the beholder had been before. The look of confusion and irritation on the beholder's hideous face elicited a few laughs from the watching drow.
The beholder decided enough was enough. It was infinitely smarter than the stupid little dark elf that it was chasing and it should have caught the slippery little inferior being by now. It rotated, and choosing to attack silently this time, it charged around the pillar. Right into the tips of Brynn's waiting katanas. It hovered for a moment, one of its three remaining eyestalks snaking around to look at the two katanas that had been thrust deep into its body cavity, and then its central eye rolled back into its huge head and the beholder fell to the ground, the weight of its body forcing the katanas to tear through flesh a bone until the came free through to top of the beholder's skull. Gore spilled out all over the floor of the pit, but Brynn paid in no more attention than it took to avoid slipping in a sloppy pile of brain tissue as she walked over to retrieve her cloak.
Dumbfounded, Szordrin opened up the gate to the pit as the crowd, grown from twenty to nearly fifty during the course of the battle, shouted their approval. Brynn affected a properly drow expression as she accepted a towel from a human slave and used it to wipe off her blades before putting them back in their scabbards. She gathered her friends together and took a seat at one of the tavern's tables, ordering a round the house brew for the Blades.
The crowd around the pit diminished and more slaves came to clean up the mess Brynn had left behind. A few moments later Szordrin approached Brynn's table, a bag of coins in his hand.
"A most excellent battle!" the Pit Master exclaimed, his red eyes glittering in excitement. "Here is your reward," he continued, putting the bag of gold on the table in front of Brynn, "I will have to go to the pens to see if I cannot find an opponent more worthy of your considerable skill! Never have I seen an Eye Tyrant look so terrified or angry!"
Brynn waved her hand for Jaheira to pick up the gold and tuck it away somewhere safe. "I am pleased that I have gotten the chance to keep my skills polished in your arena."
"If you please, most honorable female, you might speak with Sondal if you are looking for a further challenge," Szordrin said.
"Who?" Brynn asked.
"The Master of the Dueling Pit," Szordrin replied, gesturing with one slender ebony hand to the round, metal cage on the far side of the common room from the Monster Pit. Szordrin's smile was a chilling one, and it reminded many of the Blades just what sort of people they were dealing with. Brynn met his cruel grin with one of her own, unaffected by his words of his demeanor. "Many a drow would challenge you since you have defeated an Eye Tyrant single handed. I know of over a dozen who would fight you just to prove who was the superior swordswoman."
"Then let the challenges come," Brynn said, lifting her glass to Szordrin, who nodded in that sort of submissive manner that drow males had when around drow females. "You can leave now," she said imperiously. "Attend to finding me more monstrous foes."
Szordrin bowed politely and headed off, shouting directions at the slaves who were cleaning up the monster pit.
"Let the challenges come," Brynn repeated to herself in a whisper. "If I have to kill every man woman and child in this godforsaken city to get at Irenicus, so be it."
***
An hour after the battle in the monster pit seven of the nine Blades of Honor were settled into their comfortable quarters on the tavern's third floor.
"She is taking too many risks!" Jaheira growled, free to say what she wanted because of the wards against scrying Aerie had put up around the room. "It was foolish enough to face a beholder by herself, but without the Cloak of Mirroring to protect her? She is putting us all in danger with her actions!"
"Please calm yourself," Mazzy said, folding her hands in her lap. She frowned for a moment and couldn't help marveling at the slenderness of her fingers and their ebony hue, not to mention the fact that she was sitting in a chair sized just right for an elf and her feet were flat on the floor and not dangling a nine inches above it. She shook her head and continued, "surely, Brynn is acting rashly, but she has yet to falter."
"Yet. Yet," Jaheira reminded the halfling. "She has yet to falter. What happens when one of her suicidal risks actually gets her killed?"
"Ooh," Minsc groaned, shaking his head forlornly, "poor little Brynn!"
"Poor us you idiot!" Jaheira snapped. Minsc looked up, a little hurt by Jaheira's sharp words.
"I do not think we need worry so much," Anomen broke in. "Certainly her behavior is... disturbing, but it is only because she is trying to play the part of a drow. She is doing a fine job of it."
"I think she might be doing too fine a job," Nalia said quietly. All eyes were on her in a second and she swallowed hard before she continued, "I mean, if Solaufein hadn't gone back to the city she would had slaughtered that deep gnome patrol. I think maybe she's fitting in a little too well here in Ust Natha."
"She likes it because she doesn't have to feel here," Aerie remarked, having a flash of intuition. "She gets to pretend to be a drow and forget who Brynn Trueblade is, and it's a relief to her."
"Yeah?" muttered Nalia, "well I'm not very relieved."
"Neither am I," Aerie agreed quietly.
"I doubt she would even care," Jaheira remarked. "She is down in the common room right now getting so drunk that no doubt Haer'Dalis will have to carry her up the stairs. If she continues like this I am not sure whether or not we will be able to allow her to continue to lead us." She looked around the room at her companions, her expression completely serious.
"What are you saying?" Mazzy asked cautiously.
"I am saying that if it becomes necessary one of us may have to take over as leader of the Blades, at least until Brynn regains her balance," Jaheira said.
"What if she never does?" Imoen said, speaking for the first time. The young woman was standing in one of the corners of the room, her unnaturally red eyes shining like pinpoints of light from the shadows. The rest of the Blades suppressed an involuntary shiver with varying degrees of success. Imoen, they were suddenly reminded, was Brynn staunchest supporter and would likely be hard to sway in favor of an insurrection, no matter how temporary.
"If she continues on as she has for the past week I fear that she will become even more of a danger to the world than Irenicus ever was," Jaheira said grimly. "She has the power to tip the balance to either good or evil, and though I hope she will not do either, if she turns toward the path of darkness I do not think than anyone will be able to stand in her way."
Imoen nodded. "I understand."
***
The next day found the Blades in the Female Fighters' Society in front of one of the most powerful women in Ust Natha, their patron Phaere Despana. The female drow was tall for her kind, nearly five and a half feet tall, and with a shapely figure suggested beneath her dark violet robes. She was certainly a beautiful woman, but the cruelty in her luminescent red eyes gave her a decidedly dangerous look.
"Excellent," Phaere said, a cold smile turning up the corners of her lips ever so slightly, "you have arrived on time."
Brynn bowed and then straightened again, making sure not to look Phaere in the eyes lest the volatile woman take offense. She might have been taking more risks lately, but she could not risk earning Phaere's enmity, not if she wanted to get out of Ust Natha and find Irenicus. "What do you desire of me?" she asked, appropriately polite.
Phaere's smile seemed to grow even colder. "I am sure you are aware by now of the... situation between Solaufein and myself."
Brynn nodded, she had indeed heard a few rumors that had hinted at the cause for the deeply held anger between the two drow.
"And you must also know that I cannot strike out against him, though his insolence has earned him his death many times over by now, because he has gained the support of another powerful house."
Brynn nodded again.
"You, on the other hand," Phaere continued almost casually, "you are free to do as you please. House Despana has not officially become your sponsor yet, so if you were to eliminate that troublesome male for me there would be no repercussions to House Despana."
"And the repercussions to us?" Brynn inquired. "If we are not allied with any house we can not claim the protection of any house either."
Phaere waved a dismissive hand. "That has already by taken into consideration. So, Veldrin of Ched Nasad, are you going to kill Solaufein for me?"
Brynn understood the implied threat in Phaere's words. If she didn't agree Phaere would have the Blades killed before they could take word of the assassination attempt to Solaufein in hopes of currying favor with his sponsors. So Brynn smiled a cruel, conniving little smile and said, "The male dog will be dead within the hour."
"Excellent," Phaere repeated. "Most of the males are out on patrol right now, and the Male Fighters' Society will be empty of all except Solaufein, whom I ordered to stay behind. You will be able to kill him without witnesses. The corpse must be disposed of, so for evidence that the deed has been done bring me Solaufein's piwafwi cloak, I know it well."
Brynn bowed again. "Of course," she said compliantly.
"Good. Now be gone! I will await your return here. Mind you, be back with the cloak before three hours have past or suffer the consequences."
"Of course," Brynn said again. She bowed one last time, and then signaled for the rest of the Blades to follow her out.
The walk to Solaufein's quarters at the Male Fighters' Society was a short one. The fact that none of the Blades voiced their misgivings about what they were about to do was a sign of how imperative it was for them to keep up the illusion that they were drow. If that restraint had not been there no doubt many of the Blades would have been clamoring to point out to Brynn that killing Solaufein was wrong. Then again, had she not had to act like a drow Brynn wouldn't have agreed to kill Solaufein in the first place. At least that was what Brynn's companions hoped.
Brynn waited until the street out side of the Male Fighters' Society was clear before ushering the Blades into the building and shutting the door tightly behind them. Solaufein was sitting at one of the tables in the Society's dome-roofed common room. He seemed restless, and the moment he saw the Blades enter the room he stood up and took a few steps toward them.
"Greetings," he said, frowning. He paused for a moment, and then stated simply, "You have not come as a friend."
Brynn shook her head, drawing a sigh from Solaufein. "Phaere sent me to kill you," she replied as evenly as he.
Shaking his head slowly, a rueful half-smile tugging up the left corner of his mouth, Solaufein said, "I knew this was coming. Well then, draw your strange blades, mighty Veldrin, let us end this as warriors." He reached for his own sword as he finished.
"We could finish this as friends yet," Brynn mentioned quietly, causing Solaufein to stop suddenly and the Blades to look at their leader in surprise. Brynn smiled a little at their confusion. And she frowned a little too. She continued, "Phaere sent me to kill you, but I have no desire to draw your blood. I also have no desire to help that bitch of priestess unless it is to send her to her goddess that much sooner. So I offer you the chance to live."
Solaufein stood silent for a long time, but Brynn was willing to wait as long as she had to. "Who are you, Veldrin of Ched Nasad?"
Brynn cocked her head to one side. "Do you accept my offer?"
"Of course," Solaufein replied, regarding her with open curiosity. "Who are you?" he asked again.
"My name is Brynn Trueblade, and I am no drow," Brynn said.
"Brynn... er... Veldrin!" Jaheira hissed in Brynn's ear. She was over being happily surprised that Brynn had decided to let Solaufein live and now officially annoyed that Brynn had so quickly thrown away their cover.
Brynn held up one hand to silence Jaheira and went on while the druid fumed. "I am a half-elf from the surface, and I've come here in search of a mage that has taken something precious from me. I know the mage has fled to the surface, but the only means I have of following him is by retrieving the eggs that your people stole from the silver dragon, Adalon."
"This mage must have taken something very precious from you indeed," Solaufein decided.
"My soul," Brynn told him. Very quietly she added, "And other things, more dear even than that."
Solaufein raised one white eyebrow, but did not question her statement. "How will you prove my death to Phaere?" he asked instead.
"Your cloak," Brynn said, holding out one hand.
Solaufein frowned a little but removed the cloak from his shoulders and handed it to Brynn, saying, "A fair trade for my life, I believe."
Brynn nodded. "Make haste with your escape," she told him. "I wouldn't mind meeting you again, but not if it's when we're both hanging by our toenails."
"Indeed," Solaufein agreed. "I will wait until after you have left, and then vanish from the city. I wish you well, Vel... Brynn Trueblade."
"Good luck to you too," Brynn said. With that she turned away and led the Blades back out onto the street.
***
To Be Continued
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Hello all! No creative host for this author's note, it's late and I'm cranky. Well, I'm not really cranky, but it is late. I'm going to Florida for spring break, which is the sort of thing that might make most people very happy, but for me it entails spending my vaction in my grandparent's condominium surrounded on all sides by sisteen floors of people over the age of fifty. I dare not go down to the pool in my two-piece suit, all the old farts hit on me. (((eww))) At any rate onto actual notes on the story (as opposed to my personal life).
As was pointed out to me the last few chapters are lacking my usual ...erm... humor, which is more or less just due to the subject matter. It's hard to make tragic death funny, although if I tried real hard I'm sure I could, but that would ruin the whole tone. Anyway, the funny stuff will return soon and if you must know I plan to do a little series of one-shots that tell the stories of the things the cast of BGII wouldn't want you hearing about. Stay tuned for a sneak peak summary of two of the oddest quests I could think of.
Elbress brought up the subject of the whole cleansing-of-Yoshimo's-heart thing. The way I look at it, my way he died with a pretty cleam heart, so that's all not-necessary. Besides, think about it, carrying someone's heart around in your pack for a few weeks until you can find a temple of Ilmater is well... it would be a highly traumatic -not to mention generally unpleasant experience smell-wise- and since it doesn't need to happen for this story line I think I'll avoid it. And picture this: you're digging around in your pack for that special magical item you need to defeat the nasty something-or-other when your hand latches onto something... squishy... (((eww)))
So... onto those sneak previews...
#1: Untitled as of yet
Synopsis: The skinner murders in the bridge district have been solved, but now a new killer seems to be stalking the local ladies-of-the-evening. The targets aren't just any prostitutes, they're a little strange, as Brynn and the Blades find out when they agree to help solve this latest mystery. The main draw for this story humor-wise can be summed up in three words, 'Anomen in drag'. I laughed my buns of just thinking about it.
#2: Ball Gowns and Braggarts
Synopsis: What do you get when you throw a bunch of crusty adventurers into a ballroom full of snobby elites and add in a possible assassination attempt and copious quantities of alcohol? Not to mention a minature giant space hamster down the front of the hostess' dress? The answer is one crazy party!
#3: The Female Advantage
Synopsis: Remember how Brynn promised Mazzy she'd tell her sometime about how she stormed the Iron Throne's tower in her underwear? Well, Mazzy's finally decided to get the whole story, and this is it. And you thought Khalid stuttered enough already.